Undiagnosed illness - nepal: (rolpa) request for information
Undiagnosed illness - nepal: (rolpa) request for information
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A ProMED-mail post
<
http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<
http://www.isid.org>
Date:
Tue 12 May 2009
Source: Xinhua News Agency [edited]
<
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/12/content_11361962.htm>
Over 60 people ill due to "mysterious" disease in mid-western Nepal
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More than 60 people at Jaimakashala in Rolpa district in mid-western Nepal
have been taken ill due to a mysterious disease that spread in the village
3 days ago.
According to Tuesday's [12 May 2009] eKantipur.com, most of the victims are
women, elderly, and children. An official at the District Public Health
Office informed that a team of health workers has been dispatched to the
disease-hit area, some 270 km (168 mi) west of Kathmandu, to take stock of
the situation and to offer treatment to the sick.
All patients have similar symptoms of acute headache, fever, and vomiting
up blood, a health worker said. He said that the disease may have been
caused due to consumption of polluted water and inadequate sanitation.
With no health worker at the local health post, the patients could not
receive treatment on time.
--
communicated by:
ProMED-mail
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promed@promedmail.org>
[
Unless the described hematemesis (vomiting up blood) was associated with
intense vomiting leading to esophageal tears and subsequent bleeding,
hematemesis is not usually associated with the variety of microorganisms
that are usually the culprits in waterborne gastroenteritis outbreaks. The
mention of acute headache and fever as a predominant finding does have one
wonder about malaria and the encephalitides such as Japanese encephalitis,
although the possibility of entrance of one of the hemorrhagic fevers such
as CCHF (Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever) or one of the old world
hantaviruses is there as well. ProMED-mail would greatly appreciate
receiving more information from knowledgeable sources in the region.
For a map of Rolpa district in the Rapti Zone of Nepal, see
<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolpa>. For a larger map of Nepal to
juxtapose the map of Rolpa, please see
<
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/nepal_pol90.jpg>. And
for the interactive HealthMap/ProMED-mail map of Rolpa Nepal, with links to
other recent outbreaks in Nepal and surrounding regions, see
<
http://healthmap.org/r/00bS>. - Mod.MPP]
:tiphat:
http://tinyurl.com/opzowl
